STONEHAM, GEORGE

STONEHAM, GEORGE (ca. 1786–1869?). George Stoneham (Stonam, Stonum), pioneer and cotton planter, son of Henry and Jane (Dillard) Stoneham, was born in Virginia about 1786, the oldest of several children of a Revolutionary War veteran. At the age of fifteen the family moved to Jackson County, Georgia. About 1819 George moved to Conecuh County, Alabama, with his brother Joseph and began the profitable operation of a keelboat between Brooklyn and Pensacola, Florida. When Joseph and his wife both died of fever in 1836, George became the guardian of Joseph's four orphaned sons. In 1844, accompanied by his nephews and probably a number of slaves, Stoneham moved to Texas, where he purchased a large tract of land from Mrs. Margaret McIntyre on Grimes Prairie in what is now southern Grimes County. The rest of his family joined him there in 1845. Stoneham, a successful cotton planter, raised hundreds of bales annually. By 1860 he controlled 115 slaves and an estate worth more than $150,000. He had thus become the wealthiest man in the county. As each nephew attained his majority, Stoneham gave him land and slaves. The second nephew, John H. Stoneham, became the founder of the town of Stoneham. Like most slaveowners, Stoneham was seriously damaged by emancipation. By the end of 1865 his remaining property was valued at only $28,000. His name disappeared from county tax rolls after 1869, when he appears to have died.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Grimes County Historical Commission, History of Grimes County, Land of Heritage and Progress (Dallas: Taylor, 1982).